YOUNG people have urged county councillors to listen to their views at the end of a three-week campaign to break down communication barriers.

Groups of youngsters have been meeting their local councillors to learn about the workings of the county council.

They then inscribed their ideas for how the involvement of young people in local democracy could be improved on giant bricks.

The bricks have now been delivered to County Hall, in Northallerton.

Among the young people's suggestions were more frequent face-to-face visits from local councillors to schools and youth groups, the formation of a youth forum and more use of the internet, email and text messaging as a way of communicating with young people.

Councillor Chris Metcalfe, deputy leader of the county council, said: "We are keen to ensure the momentum that has been gained so far continues."

Councillor Carl Les, executive member for corporate affairs, said: "We're looking into the ideas the young people have raised and are already planning to form a young people's discussion forum.

"We anticipate that the forum will champion the views of young people across the county and act as an invaluable mechanism for ensuring their voices are heard at every level of the democratic process."

Having taken part in the campaign, Abbie Lawrence, a student at Northallerton College, said she would be interested in getting involved in a youth forum.

"If you look at the bricks, you can see that a lot messages are really similar, so we have identified the same sorts of issues," she said.

"We've never, ever, ever had any councillors come to speak to us before. We'd really love a councillor to come into tutorials, to come along and make sure we're being heard."